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Slideshow: Syrian Refugees in Bulgaria

Gihan, left, fled from Syria with her family after their home was destroyed in a bombing. She suffers from an undiagnosed medical problem that makes it very difficult for her to walk. Her family lives at the Vuenna Rampa camp in Sofia, Bulgaria, where they have constructed "rooms" by hanging sheets for privacy in the large rooms that have been transformed into living areas, often housing up to 20 people each.

The Vuenna Rampa camp was set up in an old disused school near the city of Sofia. It has an official capacity of 600 people, but approximately 900 currently living there. In some cases up to five families share one old classroom. Here, a washroom now serves as a sleeping area for two unlucky asylum seekers.

A staff member examines a 57-year-old Syrian asylum seeker who suffers from a heart condition and high blood pressure. Forced to flee their homes with very few possessions, many refugees have had no choice but to go without treatment for chronic conditions like Muhamad’s.

MSF pediatrician Ludmila Bajdarova examines another young Syrian patient in Vuenna Rampa camp. Respiratory tract infections, skin infections, and diarrhea are all common in the camp due to unsanitary living conditions. Patients with complicated conditions are referred to the local hospital.

In the Harmanli Camp in southern Bulgaria, Syrian asylum seekers cook and warm themselves over a fire. In Harmanli, more than 1,300 asylum seekers—mostly Syrian refugees—are awaiting registration in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

A Syrian man and his young son sit in their tent at Harmanli Camp. The huge increase in the number of migrants crossing into Bulgaria in recent months has seriously strained Bulgaria's capacity to provide aid.

As the war in Syria rages and entry restrictions in other countries grow more restrictive, ever greater numbers of Syrian refugees have made their way to Bulgaria. This year, in fact, nearly 10,000 migrants and refugees, the majority from Syria, have arrived in the country, an unexpected influx that has put pressure on the Bulgarian authorities’ capacity to provide proper shelter and health care.

Significant improvements are still needed for the winter. After observing terrible living conditions in reception centers in the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia and in makeshift camps in the southern part of the country, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontierès (MSF) began providing medical care in the worst-affected areas.